A gang leader was among the 25 detainees who were able to escape from a Mexican prison after gunmen attacked it, the administration reported in an update on Monday.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told reporters that the attack on Sunday in Ciudad Juarez, close to the border with the United States, resulted in the deaths of ten guards, seven detainees, and two attackers.
According to Sandoval, the jail's congestion was a contributing factor in the prison break, and a request was made to move convicts out of the facility. He stated that 120 soldiers and 90 members of the National Guard have been sent to find the escaped inmates.
The number of fatalities from the dawn raid ascribed to drug smugglers had previously stood at 14. According to Sandoval, five attackers were apprehended after injuring 14 prisoners as well as a guard.
Ernesto Alfredo Pinon a.k.a. "El Neto", the boss of a gang associated with the Juarez drug cartel, was among the escapees, according to Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez.
Authorities claimed to have discovered more than $500,000 in "El Neto's" cell. Several substances were also seized, including 1.5 kilograms of heroin, 285 bags of crystal meth, 38 bags of cocaine, 68 bags of marijuana, and 8 pills of fentanyl.
To keep the turmoil under control, federal authorities were contacted. According to Rodriguez, who criticized the Chihuahua state administration, they later discovered a "VIP zone" with drugs and cash within the state-run prison.
"That's the state's responsibility because federal authorities can't intervene in these places," Rodriguez said.
She continued by saying that state officials had not asked that any violent inmates, like "El Neto," be moved from the overcrowded prison to a higher-security facility. In reaction to the attack, state officials will "completely clean out the penitentiary system" according to state prosecutor Roberto Javier Duarte, who also promised that those found guilty of corruption would face legal action.
According to the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office, Pinon was given a sentence of more than 200 years in jail in 2010 for kidnapping and murder. When families of the prisoners were waiting in line for New Year's visits, the attackers-who were traveling in armored vehicles-started the assault.
Years of violent fights between security forces and competing drug cartels have taken place in Ciudad Juarez, which is located over the border from El Paso, Texas. Numerous fights and riots have broken out inside the prison, most notably in March 2009, when 20 inmates lost their lives. Violence and chronic overcrowding in Mexican jail facilities have gotten worse recently as a result of conflict between criminal organizations.
